
CHII^ESE LABOR 


/ 


. A LECTURE, 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SAN FRANCISCO 
MECHANICS’ INSTITUE, 



. ' BY 

; / 

H. C. BENNETT, 




IN REPLY TO THE HON. F. M. PIXLEY. 

m 


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SAN FRANCISCO, MAT, 1870. 








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V U7 5 

I ?7t) 

35 




LECTURE. 


Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The facts and figures I propose to‘submit to your con¬ 
sideration, tjiis evening, are intended to throw some 
light on. the icqjopular side of one of the greatest ques¬ 
tions of the day— Chinese Labor. 

Lacking the experience as a public speaker, usually 
possessed by members of that profession whose peculiar 
province it is to make ‘Hhe worse appear the better cause.,'' 
I have to rely on the influence of the naked, unadorned 
truth, and upon your sense of justice, to obtain a patient 
hearing. 

In consequence of having had only one side of 
this great question presented to them, many intelligent 
people have been prevented forming a just or correct 
opinion of its present and prospective effects and conse¬ 
quences ; and prejudice, the unthinking faculty of the 
human mind, through being fostered and encouraged, 
has usurped the throne of reason among a considerable 
portion of this community,^nd deprived numbers of the 
power to clearly comprehend their own interq^ts. • 

It is easier, far easier, to move a mountain, than it is 
to remove such a prejudice ; because it is nlore difficult 
to bring a force to*' operate on the mind of an unreason¬ 
ing man, than it is to set steam paddies, giant powder 
and tlie galvanic battery to work on the mountain. 

Intellectual ability, that divine, boundless power, by 



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which the relation of facts and things, from the 
strnction of an animalcuhe to the mysterious laws which 
control the universe, are comprehended and aj)plied to 
the purposes of life, cannot exist in harmony with preju¬ 
dice. The one is always destructive of the other. Mer¬ 
cy ^justice and truth are the evidence oiintellectual sireiiytlx^ 
while cruelty, persecution and oppression are the pro¬ 
ducts oi prejudice. 

The healthy intellect is governed by conscience — God^s 
messenger to num —to which prejudice bars the entrance* 
Whenever an individual, a community, or a nation, per¬ 
mits prejudice to control'their actions, they place them¬ 
selves bound head, feet and hands at the mercy of dem¬ 
agogues, charlatans and humbugs. 

The clearest proof of the correctness of this,* is pre¬ 
sented by the fact—too notorious to be doubted—that 
the worst class of men ride into political power by pan¬ 
dering to. the ignorant, a course which is sapping the vi¬ 
tality of our republican institutions, and such as no hon¬ 
orable, able gentleman would degrade himself by per¬ 
suing to obtain office, or transient popularity. 

I make this explanation of the nature and effects of 
prejudice, because prejudice is the only formidable ob¬ 
stacle that stands in the wa}^ of a reasonable solution of 
the question of Chinese Labor, and prevents its fair dis¬ 
cussion. 

If, as a spectator, you attended a session of any of our 
criminals courts, and watched the trial of a person ac¬ 
cused of murder or robbery, you would hear the lu’ose- 
cuting counsel present such an array of testimony, against 
the accusecj, that his guilt would appear proven beyond 
doubt. And did not justice demand that the other side 
of the case should be he^'rd, condemnation and punish¬ 
ment would be certain. The counsel for the defense, by 
merely eliciting facts not called out by the prosecution, 
with the testimony of the very same witnesses, who had 




5 


seemed to prove the guilt of the accused, fully estab¬ 
lishes his innocence. 

biich a change of opinion I shall endeavor to bring 
about this evening, in reference to Chinese labor. I 
shall assume the othce of counsel for the defense of the 
Chinese, so much for their sake, as for the sake 

of the white Working men of California, and you, ladies 
and gentlemen, shall act as both judges and jurors. -In 
conducting my case, I shall not resort to the usual tricks 
of the regular criminal lawyer; I shall not abuse or 
misrepresent the character of the witnesses on the other 
side, nor submit for your consideration any of those 
subtleties of the law which bother the brains of the 
ablest jurist; but shall confine myself to the facts of 
the case, as they are, nought extenuating nor setting 
down aught in malice. And though but a very in¬ 
experienced and indifferent advocate, I rely upon your 
sense of justice for a merciful and honest verdict.- 

As in the ordinary courts of justice, the advocate is not % 
held responsible for the conduct of his clients, and is 
permitted to state his case without molestation ; I trust 
I shall be granted the same privileges while stating my 
case before this august tribunal. 

In order that you may thoroughly understand the 
question you are called upon to decide, I will state the 
charges preferred agaihst the Chinese in the broadest 
terms: 

They are charged with, Mrst. Being of an inferior race 
to the white man; with being barbarians, heathen, in¬ 
capable of understanding or adopting our language, laws, 
religion, habits or customs. 

Secondly. That their moral and social habits are in¬ 
jurious to the community. 

Thirdly. That they work for less wages than white 
men and women, and, by so doing, deprive the latter of 
employment; that they do not spend their earnings 


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here, and thus injure the State, by sending the money 
out of it. 

•FoartJily. Their patience, expertness and industr}' 
enable them to rapidly learn how to perform the laboi 
of white men. 

Fifthly. *That they are coolies, or bond servants, 
compelled to work for their Chinese masters, contrary 
to' the letter and spirit of the laws and customs ot the 
United States. 

In support of these charges, I will read extracts from 
the published statements of the leading counsel on the 
other side, to avoid being accused of dpdging ihe issue. 

Mr. Rockwell, ex-editor of the Morniiuj Call, the or¬ 
gan of the anti-coolieites, member of the last legislature 
and author of Assembly Bill Ro, 13, presented to that 
body, which had for its object the . expulsion of the 
Chinese from this State, by levying taxes upon them, 
which it would be impossible for them to pay. 

* As chairman of the committee to which his own bill 
was submitted, Mr. Roclv^well presented a report, which 
was published in the most of the city papers, in which 
he alleged that in consequence of the coolie system, 
the Chinese increased in this State more rapidly than 
white laborers; that they could not understand our 
language or laws; that nine tenths of those in this 'State 

are coolies; that their women are bought and sold. 

« 

Mr. George, the'present editor of the Sacramento 
Reporter, published a long article against the Chinese in 
the ISTew l^ork Tribune, in May 1869, and sent a copy 
of this article to Mr. Stewart Mill, the eminent English 
political economist, to obtain that gentleman’s opinion 
upon the subject of Chinese immigration. In that pon¬ 
derous article, which filled four columns of the Tribune, 
he makes the following charges against these people, as 
explained by himself in a letter published in the Alta, 
Nov. 22, 1869: 


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1st. That the Chinese standard of comfort is lower 
than the American, and they are, therefore, enable to 
work, and do work, for less wages. 

2d. That the intellectual capacity of the Chinese is 
of a high order^ and that they are capable, not only of 
manual labor, but of successfully pursuing many, if not 
most, of the mechanical trades and occupations. 

3d. They are rapidly making their way with vari¬ 
ous branches of 'prodaciion^ and in all are proving their 
capacity and giving satisfaction to their employers. 

The Hon. Eugene Casserly, one of the United States 
senators for this^^tate, in a speech delivered in this city 
only a few months since, and subsequently more fully 
explained *by himself, charged that flie Chinese were 
the most frugal, industrious, and ingenious people in the 
world, and because they would work for 4ess wages than 
white men, were injurious to their interests. 

.The Hon. James A. Johnson, one of the representa¬ 
tives in Congress from this State, in a speech delivered' 
before that body on the 24th of January last, charged 
the Chinese with taking away the earnings of the white 
man by working for lower^wages, and. asserted that the 
importation of 50,000 Chinese would reduce the wages 
of 200,000 white men, in any section, fully 25 per cent., 
and 'that such a reduction was a’ clear loss to the 


country. 

He further charged the Chinese with hating our cus¬ 
toms, with having a contempt for our Government, and 
fairly loathing our religion and our God, and alleged 
that the lowest character in California would feel dis¬ 


graced and ruined for ever, if caught associaimg with the 
Chinese. On the question of labor, he asserted that 
cheap labor is a curse, and would never develop the re- 


sourses of a country; that it was only high priced labor 
that was productive. 

^^he Hon. F. M. Pixley, one of the most popular and 




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voluble speakers in tHe State—a gentleman who possesses* 
the profitable faculty of speaking with equal force on 
both sides of any question—in a lecture delivered in this 
hall last Saturday evening, so closely followed the state¬ 
ments and oj)inions of Mr. Johnson that it is evident the 
materials of both speeches emanated from the same 
source. It is therefore unnecessary to rej)eat his charges 
in this place. 

As the above extracts from the speeches of the lead¬ 
ing counsel on the opposite side cover all the charges. 
preferred against the Chinese, I shall not tire your 
patience by citing any more authowties on the part of 
the prosecution. I shall now endeavor to refute these 
charges, and shall take them up in the order in which I 
ave stated them. 



Are the Chinese barbarians, heathen, incapable of 
understanding or adopting our customs, language, laws 
or religion? The first witnesses I shall call will be-the 
officers of the sabbath and public schools. These will 
tell you that in April, 1870, there were 1200 Chinese, 
chiefly adults, attending the sabbath schools in this city, 
and a large number attend similar schools in all the in¬ 
terior towns in which they are granted the privilege. 
The conductors of these schools will tell vou that the 
Chinese are remarkably zealous, and make great pro¬ 
gress in learning our language, and that they evince a 
most commendable earnestness in striving to learn the 
mystery of Christian Holiness. 

The teachers in the Chinese public day and evening 
schools, will tell you that their pupils are exceedingly 
attentive and obedient, and learn their lessons readily. 

In this city there are nearly 800 of the better class of 
Chinese who employ private tutors to instruct them, not 
only in the English language, but French, German, 
Spanish, Greek and Latin; and there are many of these 
people, in this city, who can converse in all these lano-u- 




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ages, and who are better informed in all that relates to 
the history and institutions of this and of all the 
European nations, than the majority of those who call 
them barbarians. 

In July, 1869, when the Congressional Committee of 
Ways and Means were here on an othcial visit, several 
of its members attended the Chinese schools. One of 
the committee, the Hon. W. I). Kelly, member of Con¬ 
gress from Pennsylvania, the foremost defender of the 
polic}^ of- protection to American labor and industry, on 
that occasion, after hearing the exercises of the Chinese 
scholars, stated that he -was astonished at the progress 
thev had made in learning: our Ian 2 :ua 2 :e, as he had been 
indu^jed to believe that they were unable, or had no de¬ 
sire to learn either our language or religion. 

Mr. Kelly expressed the opinion that it was the 
destiny ot this republic to utilize the labor of the Chi¬ 
nese as an instrument for their conversion to Christian¬ 
ity, and that California should reap the advantages and 
honor of makins: the conversion. 

The Hon. W. Maynard, U. S. Senator from Tennes¬ 
see, another of the committee, stated that he considered 
the advent of these people among us and their remark¬ 
able ability in learning our language and habits, as a 
matter of great importance in furthering the interests of 
the United States' in Asia, and that if the people of 
California would only view the matter in a proper light, 
and take advantage of their cheap labor, the Chinese 
would be a more permanent benefit to the State than its 
gold and silver mines. 

So eager are these people to learn our language and 
religion, that on any Sabbath day we may see hundreds 
of them, including old men, conversant with all the sub¬ 
tleties of the abstruse philosophy of Confucius, men— 
who in the intricacies of trade and commerce, are the 
equals of the shrewdest merchants of any nation—sitting 




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at the feet of white children, with marvelous patience 
striving to learn how to pronounce our alphabet. The 
man who visits one of these Chinese schools and sees 
the eager zeal of these people to learn, and marks the 
progress they are making, denies the evidence ot his 
senses, when he asserts that they are incapable of learn¬ 
ing our language, habits or customs. But, then, prob¬ 
ably those who make such random assertions do not de¬ 
pend on the evidence of their senses, or any other 
evidence, as authority for anything they say. 

It is estimated by gentlemen, long residents in China, 

• that there are more than ten millions of its native inhab¬ 
itants who are Roman Catholics. There is scarcely a 

denomination of Protestants but. has missionaries at 

♦ 

work converting these people to Christianity. Tlie 
Christian people of the United States annually expenp 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in this noble work. 

Some of the witnesses on the other side have alleged 
that the Chinese language is incomprehensible and bar¬ 
barous—so much so as to prevent communication. 

This language, so strange to us, is spoken in Cliina, 
Japan, Cochin China, Siam, Corea, and to a consider¬ 
able extent in Russia and Thibet, by more than four 
hundred and fifty millions of people, or more than half 
the inhabitants of the globe, and is not a whit more in¬ 
comprehensible to the majority of the opponents of 
Chinese labor, than is the French, German, Spanish or 
Italian. 

During the time I had the honor of occupying the 
position of secretary of the Labor Exchange in this city, 
I was frequently called upon to give advice or to find 
employment for immigrants from France, Germany and 
Italy, who could neither speak nor understand a word of 
English, and were as much barbarians, according to this 
linguistic standard, as the Chinese. 


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Are the Chinese incapable of understanding our poli¬ 
tical system ? Let us see. 

The government of China is probably the purest 
democracy existing. Its fundamental principle and 
axiom is, "‘that the will of the people is the will of hea¬ 
ven.” In that country, the children of the lowest and 
poorest classes may attain the highest offices. Learning 
and zeal being the only avenues to promotion. In that 
country the schools are free to all, and education uni-^ 
versa!. You will never find a Chinaman unable to read 
or write his name. Can we say as much of many of 
those who have emigrated from other countries, and 
who are loudest in denouncing the Chinese as barbar¬ 
ians ? 

Their moral and social habits are alleged to be injur¬ 
ious to the community. 

The general observance of the Sabbath by the Chris¬ 
tian employers of Chinese labor, causes hundreds of 
these people to be idle on that day. Crowds of them 
may be seen on any Sunday afternoon on Sacramento, 
Dupont, Jackson, or Commercial Streets, all dressed 
clean and tidy. The first case of disorder or drunken¬ 
ness among them on such occasions has yet to be re¬ 
corded. If men who behave thus are heathen, barbar¬ 
ians, might not many so-called civilized Christians take 
a useful lesson from them in behavior on the Sabbath 
clay ? ' . . . 

Mr. Casserly, wlio cannot be charged with being in 
favor of the Chinese, says they are frugal, intelligent and 
industrious. These very expressive adjectives admit of 
but one construction, universally recognized wherever 
the English Ian 2 :ua 2 ;e is understood. If the Chinese ex- 
hibit these qualities to such an extent as to create alarm 
in the mind of a gentleman holding the position of a 
United States Senator, then I hold that there must be 
a radical defect in the political system that requires the 


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expulsion of men because they are frugal, skillful and 
industrious, merely because they sell their labor cheaply. 

Professor Raphael Pumpelly, a gentleman well known 
in California, who resided several years in China, 
in pursuit of scientific knowledge, as a geologist, in a 
lecture delivered in ]^ew York last mouth, stated that 
the Chinese are a highly civilized nation. Their moral 
and political systems are models, in many respects 
worthy the imitation of the people of the western world. 
Old age is respected, virtue honored, intemperance un¬ 
known ; that during a journey of nearly five thousand 
miles throuich the interior of that countrv, he never saw a 
drunken man or woman. The love of their children is 
the predominating trait in the Chinese character. It is 
true the best class of the Chinese do not come among 
us, because we treat them so badly. 

Much and well grounded complaint is made against 
the importation of a class of the Chinese females, who 
are a danger and disgrace to this community. But 
the Chinese are not responsible for their coming. They 
are brought here by white men, as a matter of speculation. 
The agents of the six companies, who watch over the af¬ 
fairs of the Chinese in this State, feel as much or more 
disgusted by the conduct of these wretched women than 
the most refined Caucassian. These Chinese merchants 
have repeatedly petitioned the city and State' author- . 
ities to prevent these women landing. They have 
paid the passage of hundreds of them to have them 
sent back. The protests and petitions of the respect¬ 
able Chinese against the landing of these women have 
been frequently published in all the city papers. But 
the eftbrts of the Chinese to abate an evil, by which 
white men profit, failed, till the Chinese government, 
when informed of the facts, took steps to prevent the 
kidnapping of these women. 

Well may Mr. Johnson say that the Chinese feel a 


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• 

contempt for our government; are they not justi¬ 
fied in doing so, when our local and State authorities 
permit the landing of these women against the will and 
wishes of the decent Chinese merchants, because certain 
white men reaped large profits in the nefarious traffic ? 
But you will not he troubled with any hiore of this class 

• of women.’ The Government of the United States and 
China have put a stop to the infamous trade. But is it 
not unjust to condemn ’the Chinese as a class, because 
these women have been brought here under such cir¬ 
cumstances ? The Chinese do not rule the State; have 
no voice in its government. The officers intrusted with 
the execution of the laws have neglected their duty, or 
these Chinese prostitutes could never have been allowed 
to land in this city. The whole power of the State would 
be evoked to expell a poor settler from his homestead, 
perhaps occupied for years, if the land on which it 
stood had been bought, under Jiis feet, by some wealthy 
land grabber ; but no effort worthy of a great State has 
been made to keep out a pestilence, because it is made 
a profit for somebody, having power to blind the eyes 
and to grease the palms of justice. 

The assertion that the Chinese are an inferior race of 
men is not a new cry to raise against a people held in 
subjection. It is as old as the history of man. The As- 

• Syrians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, Rormans, 
Scandinavians, Russians and Spaniards* have all main¬ 
tained this doctrine of the inferiority of those held in 
subjection. But what a refutation of the principle is 
presented when it is exaniined by the clear light of 
history. 

The ancient nations have been nearly blotted out of 
existence. The remnants and monuments of them that 
remain are preserved in the persons of the races, once 
held in subjection by them. 

The Britons were held for centuries as an inferior race 


14 


by their Danish, ^^orman and Koman conquerors. To 
day they are among the foremost races on earth, in 
energy enterprise and intelligence. Tlie Irish were for 
centuries held as an inferior race by their Saxon rulers— 
“the hereditary bondsmen,” as their great leader, Daniel 
O’Connell, used to call them—here, on tins soil conse¬ 
crated to freedom, exhibit capabilities for improve-' 
ment unsurpassed by the immigrants from any other 
country. Yet less than a Oentury ago, the Irish in 
Engl and—aye in IrelandJ on the beautiful green sod of 
their native land—were despised and hated by the Eng¬ 
lish, as much, or more than the Irish hate and despise 
the Chinese. During the reign of Georges, the III and 
IV, the Parliament, press and pulpit of England and . 
Ireland, resounded with the assertion that the -Celtic was 
interior to the Saxon race. It is not more than twenty 
years ago that the ary resounded through the lengtli and 
breadth of this great republic of, “Down with the Irish, 
America for the Americans!” and similar party cries. 
From Maine to California, the know-nothing party de¬ 
nounced the Irish just as the Irish here denounce the 
Chinese, and on a platform, made up of prejudice and 
hatred, elected a president. Congress and several State 
legislatures in hostility to the Irish, because they ap¬ 
prehended danger from their influx. The great State 
of Massachusetts, which has profited more by the labors* 
of Irish men And women • in its lactories and workshops, 
than any other State in the Union, passed a law making 
it necessary for an Irishman to have resided in the 
country 21 years before he. could be naturalized. 

Even in this golden State of California we had a know- 
nothing governor and legislature, who lost their power 
through attempting to proscribe Irishmen, because they 
were foreigners, and their religious belief was considered 
dangeious to lepublicanism. The very same men who 
are now leading the Irishmen against the Chinese were 


15 




the leaders of the know-nothing party. It is the nature 
of such men to look upon all foreigners as their inferiors, 
while, in truth, 'they are themselves the very lowest 
types of American manhood. • 

The nation has grown wiser and more liberal since 
those days. Alassachusetts has erased the enactment 
against the Irish irom her statute books ; and in this State 
you will not meet a man who is willing to acknowledge 
that he had been a know-nothing. So will it he in this 
State, with reference to the Chinese, within twenty 
years ; aye, within tei> there will not be an intelligent 
Irishman in it but will be ashamed that he objected to 
Chinese immigration, or j)ersecuted unoffending Chinar 
men. 

The Poles, a nation of as high intellectual and moral 
culture, and with as honorable a history as any j^eople 
on earth, are held as an inferior race by Russia. 

The Jews, who are among the most enterprising and 
intelligent elements of our cosmopolitan })opulation, are 
held as an inferior race, by nearly all the ’nations on the * 
continent of Europe. 

The negro, so long held as a chattel, denied the right 
to assert his manhood, in this now free country, though 
the scars of the whip and branding iron are scarcely 
healed _^on his back, and the load of ignA’ance is not yet 
•removed from his iT\ind, since his recognition as an equal 
with all men in the great race for wealth and happiness, *. 
has demonstrated that he, too, has capacity for improve¬ 
ment. 

So will it be with the Chinese, when we learn to re¬ 
cognize their rights to be treated as other men; they 
will prove themselves equalinall that aids in increasing the • . 
national wealth and prosperity, to any other of the exotic 
races that enter into the composition of our heteroge¬ 
neous population. 

The idea of inferiority of the mongolians does not ex- 


16 


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ist to any extent outside of California. The editor of 
the Alaska Herald, a highly educated gentleman, stated 
in that paper on the 12th of July last, that the Cossacks, 
the ablest soldiers in the Kussian armies, are pure mon- 
golians. That he himself was* a cossa-ck, and a mongo- 
lian, hut a citizen of the United States. Many of the 
highest civil and military officers .in the service of Rus¬ 
sia are mongolians, refined gentlemen and Christians. 

Sir Frederick Bruce, when minister from England to 
the Court of China, stated, at a public meeting in Eng¬ 
land, that some of the native ministers, at the Chinese 
Court, were the superiors in intellectual ability to the 
diplomats of any other nation in the world. 

When the transcontinental’railroad was-about to be 
finished, an incident-occurred which illustrated in a re¬ 
markable manner the equalit}^ of'the races in the field 
of physical labor. Of-the last four rails that completed that 
great national work, two were laid by Chinamen em¬ 
ployed by the Central Pacific Railroad Company, aiid 
two by Irishmen, employed by the Union Railroad 
Company. So that in the very centre of the Amer¬ 
ican continent, as it were, the sinewy arms of laborers 
born in Europe and Asia had the honor of finishing a 
Vvmrk that will^ ever remain a monument of American 
genius and .enterprise, the mongolians and celt only 
obeyed the advanced intelligence of their American em- 
ployers. 

The London Times, commenting on Mr. Casserly’s es¬ 
timate of the Chinese, says: 

‘‘The conflict of races in California cannot be solved 
by heavy duties on immigration, or by street outrages. 
It is impossible to suppose the Chinese can be kept'^out 
of America. Inheriting an ancient civilization perfect 
economic methods, but destitute of toughness and 
strength of moral fibre which supports autliority. The 
Chinese may be welcomed as assistants in colonization, 
not feared as a race like to dominate in the future.” 


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n 

In Boston, Massachusetts, in 1868, a Chinaman, who 
had long been a resident of that city, was naturalized^ 
and became a citizen of the United States. 

According to the St. Louis Democrat, of August, 1869, 
there are in the parisli#of St. Bernard, La., two colonies 
of Chinamen who came from the Phillipine Islands 
several years ago. These men are all Catholics, and mar¬ 
ried to Irish wives ; have families, and make a comfort¬ 
able living by their labor. They all have their names 
on the State Register, and vote as other citizens. 

There are about three hundred Chinese in Hew York 
City, most of whom are married to Irish or German wo¬ 
men, and are spoken of favorably by the Hew York 
papers. 

A Chinese Bishop, with a tail on the back of his head, 
is one of the features of the Ecumenical Council. 

• In this city. Father Thomas, a Chinaman, officiated 
as a Catholic priest for several years, and was very 
})Opular among his parishioners. 

At. Vincennes, Indiana, they have a Chinese Method¬ 
ist minister, who is said to be a most devout Christian 
and profound scholar. / 

Nearly 5,000 Chinese are settled in the vicinity of 
Boise city, Idaho, where they are much respected for 
their industry and for the great virtue “of minding their 
own business. 

Governor McCook, of Colorado, in his last message to 
the legislature of that territory, thus refers to the 
Chinese: 

• “They may be an inferior race, and lower in natural 
traits than ourselves, but, notwithstanding, they are ex- 
ceedingl}^ muscular ; and if we can first avail ourselves 
of their muscle, we can attend to their habits and their 
morals afterwards. They will supply what this country 
eminently needs—an abundance of cheap labor; and as 
they will come to us in the future, anyhow, whether we 
will or not, we, of this generation, may as well welcome 
them and derive what benefit we can from their labors. 


18 


I firmly believe they are the people destined to solve 
the great problem, as to the future of that vast un¬ 
peopled country between the Missouri river and the 
Pacific ocean.” 

The hostility towards the Chinese in this State is 
of quite recent origin. In the early times they were 
received by our leading citizens with distinguished con¬ 
sideration. Governor Burnett thought them of sufRcient 
importance to make them a special public address of 
thanks and welcomk They used to take part in our 
4th of July and other processions, in which the gorgeous • 
attire of fhe wealthy Chinese merchants of those days 
formed a conspicuous and interesting feature. 

In January, '1853, at the conclusion of a lecture on 
China, delivered in this city by Bev. Mr. Speer, the 
Hon. H. H. Haight, the present governor of this State, 
offered a set of resolutions, wdiich were unanimously 
adopted by a large and influential meeting. Of these 
resolutions I will read you a portion : 

‘‘Resolved, That the present position of the Oriental, 
nations is fraught with the most profound interest to 
the Christian world, and that we, ,as citizens of Cali¬ 
fornia, placed by the wonderful leadings of Providence 
so immediately in contact with one of the most ancient, 
intelligent and populous of these nations, hail with pe¬ 
culiar'Satisfaction the “signs of the times and that we 
feel an imperative obligation to employ our money, our 
influence and utmost effort for the welfare of that vast 
portion of the human famil }’—our elder brethren —the peo¬ 
ple of China. 

Resolved, That we regard with pleasure the presence 
of great numbers of these people among us, as affording 
the best opportunity of doing them good, and through 
them of exerting our influence upon their native land.” 

When the Burlingame mission from China were in 
this city, on their way to the courts of every civilized 
nation, they were invited to a grand banquet, given by 
the leading citizens of the State. At that banquet, Mr. 
Haight, as a proof that his opinions have not changed 


19 


on the Chinese question, said to these Chinese gentle¬ 
men : 

‘h\s the chief magistrate of this State, I welcome yon to 
this cit}’. oil have accejited a mission in the interest 
of [>rogress, of commerce and of humanity. I bid you 
on behalf of this nation, on belialf of Europe, on behalf 
of humanity itself, a hearty welcome and Godspeed.” 

It was not till the Chinese were drawn into politics, as 
a substitute for the negro, that a word of objection was 
raised against them. 

And to the honor of our worthy governor, he said that 
it is chiefl}^ to his influence that the Chinese were per¬ 
mitted to testify in our State and municipal courts, 
against white men, prior to the proclamation of the Fif¬ 
teenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. 

I might go on for an hour, citing facts to prove that 
the Chinese are not barbarians, incapable of learning 
our language, habits and customs ; but I think I have 
stated sufficient to satisfy any intelligent judge or juror 
on this point. 

If the class of Chinese we have among us are not as 
good as those that go to other States and countries, we 
have ourselves to blame. 

Is it reasonable to expect that men who are sufficiently 
intelligent to successfully complete with us as laborers, 
mechanics and merchants, will fail to imitate our vices 
too ? Is setting dogs to worry them, encouraging vaga¬ 
bond boys to pelt stones at them in the public streets, 
denying them the protection of the laws against robbers 
and murderers, the best way to civilize these people ? 

Men are like pebbles -on the sea beach. Each is 
rough and angular when first separated from its parent 
stock. It is b}^ the attrition of the ceaseless ebbing and 
flowing of the tide and storms of life that they become 
rounded and smooth, and polish one another. The 
harder specimens wear away the softer ones, receiving 


20 


the greater polish in the operation. So with men. It 
matters not whether born in America, Asia, Europe or 
Africa, they show this true grain and grit only after 
much rubbing and polishing. Those who fear the at¬ 
trition of other races, will never attain all the polish 
they are capable of sustaining. They lack the sand that 
gives it. 

The third and most important charge in the list is, 

, that the Chinese work for less wages than white men 
and women, and, by so doing, deprive the latter of em¬ 
ployment, and thus injure the State. 

As the reply to this charge is the special object of this 
lecture, I shall devote as much of my time as possible 
to its consideration; and shall endeavor to prove to your 
satisfaction, if granted a hearing, that Chinese labor is 
not the unmitigated evil it is represented to be, and will 
explain how this labor might be turned to the benefit of 
the State, and to its white laboring classes. 

Unless the fundamental principle of the science of 
political economy be false, labor is the basis of the 
wealth of nations. If this be true, we must injure 
ourselves when we reject this source of wealth by reject¬ 
ing the services of a hardy, industrious, intelligent, and 
obedient class of laborers, because they are not of the 
same race as ourselves, and are willing to sell their labor 
at a lower price than we hold our own I 

There are certain rules, or principles, which govern 
intelli 2 :ent men in their intercourse with each other 
everywhere. It is such a rule that any article is worth 
what it will sell for, neither more or less. Labor is 
governed by this inflexible law, as much as gold, cotton, 
iron, coal, wheat, or any other commodity. 

We cannot increase the value of labor, every where, 
by restricting the supply in any particular locality. It 
is the sheerest folly—a folly that could not exist for a 
day, were it not that prejudice converts our reason into 


21 


) 


obstinacy, to attempt to maintain a higher standard 
ot value for labor in California, than rules in the other 
btates of our common country—by excluding the 
cheaper labor ot the Chinese. We can no more ac¬ 
complish such a result, by such means, than we can make 
wheat or wool dearer here, than they are at 'New York 
or Liverpool, by refusing to sell these articles at the price 
offered for them in those markets. 

The laborino; man has the same ris’ht to refuse to sell 
his services at the price offered for them by employers, 
as the farmer has to hold his grain, or the storekeeper 
his goods, for a higher price. But he has no moi^e right 
to prevent the employer going into a cheaper market to 
obtain a supply of labor, than the farmer has to prevent 
the Liverpool or 'New York merchants buying wheat at 
a lower price than he is willing to sell his grain for. 
There is this difference, however, between the laborer 
and the merchant or the farmer ; wheat and merchan¬ 
dize are real property, of value at any time, may be 
stored away for an indefinite time, and insured against 
loss ; while the value of labor is never realized till it is 
used. Every day that a laborer or mechanic remains 
unemployed, the value of his labor is irrecoverably lost to 
himself and to the community of which he is a member, 
and thus it becomes a public question. Labor usually 
forms fifty per cent, of the cost of manufactured goods. 
Is not the manufacturer justified then in buying his 
labor, the most costly of his materials, in the cheapest 
^ market, as he buys his cotton, leather or iron ? To deny 
them this ri^ht is to drive them out of the State. It is 
the denial of this right that causes us to send our wool, 
leather, hides, and other raw materials out of the State 
and to re-import them in the shape of manufactured 
goods, we paying all the expenses of freight, insur¬ 
ance, cost of labor, and the profits of the manufacturer, 
importer, jobber and retailer This, and only this sys- 


r 


22 

tern, is the cause of the want of employment among the 
working classes in this city. 

It is but a flimsy pretense to charge the Chinese with 
driving mechanics out of 'employment. How many 
Chinese are carpenters, builders, bricklayers, masons, hod 
carriers, ironmolders, boiler makers, machinists, or work 
at any of the trades the artisans in which are now 
out of employment ? Hot one. How many Chinese 
work at street grading, or leveling the sand hills ? Not 
one. How many of them work about the shipping and 
wharves along the water front ? Not one. Then how 
absurd it is to charge those who do not enter into com¬ 
petition with the classes of workmen who are out of em¬ 
ploy, with being the cause of their idleness. 

It is the hostility towards tliese industrious people 
that causes the lack of employment for mechanics and 
artisans. Capitalists are indisposed to erect factories or 
to establish any business dependent upon a supply of 
manual labor, so long as the supply is controlled by an 
unreasoning mob, influenced by demagogues ready to 
sacrifice every public and private interest in order to ob¬ 
tain office. 

The Chinese are chiefly employed at work which 
white men would not do for the wages manufacturers 
can afford to pay. Were we to drive them out of these 
employments to-day, we should increase the number of 
unemployed white men and women by inanj^ hundreds, 
because it is the cheap labor of these people that sus¬ 
tains the little manufacturing industry that struggles for ’ 
existence among us. 

The poorest, most miserable Chinese chiffonier, who 
goes into all the dark and dirty places gathering up 
rags, scraps of paper,iron, glass and other unconsidered 
trifles—which white people, in their extravagance, throw 
away—does more to sustain and encourage our home 
manufactures than does the well dressed demagogue 


« 


23 


who uses his influence to prevent the employment of 
Chinese labor. Rags are essential in the manufacture of 
paper. New glass cannot be made without scraps of old 
materials. The costly rolling mills, which make the iron 
used W thousands of mechanics in this city, could not 
do so without scraps of that metal—the smaller the better. 
It is these that the patient, plodding Chinese collect; 
white men would not perform such services. It is not de¬ 
sirable that they should ; yet you see they are necessary 
for the successiul carrying on of important manufactures, 
which give em})loyment'to hundreds of white men and 
women. And so it is throughout the whole catalogue 
of industries which build up the prosperity of commun- 
ties. The raw materials may be prepared by the lowest 
race of men ; but it requires a higher intelligence to in¬ 
crease the value of these materials l)y skill, enterprise, 
trade and commerce. 

The Chinese will contribute largely to our wealth, and 
to that of the nation, by their saving of materials; and 
will teach us how to be better off upon less wages by 
beins: more economical in our habits. 

O 


Is it essential that we use only the purest water to gen¬ 
erate steam to give motion to machinery ? Will not 
the muddiest stream that flows impart motion to the ma¬ 
chinery for manufacturing the daintiest of fabrics ? 

It would be just as reasonable to reject steam because 
not generated with perfectly pure water, or to keep the 
machinery of a cotton or silk mill idle, because only 
muddy water can be had to set it in motion, as it is to 
reject Chinese labor, because we consider these people 
of an inferior race, and they offer to work cheaper than 
their superiors. 

We do not act upon such a principle ourselves when 
we want to purchase anything. There is not a man or 
woman among us, who, wishing to purchase a coat, 
dress, bucket, broom, coil of rope, or a steam engine. 


•but seeks to purchase them as cheaply as we can. We 
never ask who made them so long as they are of good 
qualit}^ and are reasonable in price. How can we hope 
for any increase in our manufacting industryj without 
which the employment of labor- must always 4)6 re¬ 
stricted, if we insist upon paying our laborer two dol¬ 
lars per day, while our competitors can employ their 
labor at seventy-five cents per day ? 

The discover}^ of steam, as a motive power, would 
have been of limited importance had it not been ap¬ 
plied to manufacturing purposes. It came directly in 
conflict with labor, and met with the same hostility as 
Chinese labor meets here, by the same classes and for 
the same reasons, that it was feared it would cheapen 
human labor by decreasing the demand. 

It is estimated that there are steam engines employed 
in manufactures and agriculture in the United States 


and England, equal to the force of one hundred mil¬ 
lions of men. Has this immense increase in the work¬ 
ing force injured the laborers in these countries? I 
should say not. Hor will any force of Chinese laborers 
injure the white working men of California, if this 
labor be judiciously employed. The lowering the price 
of labor and products hi this State, by the aid of these 
people, taken in connection with the rise of both in 
Europe, owing to immigration to this country, will 
place us on a superior footing to the manufacturers of 
Europe, and prevent the importation of manufiictured 
goods, the payment for which absorbs our capital and 
prevents the employment of labor. 

There is an astonishing amount of ignorance pre¬ 
vailing on this question of labor and its value. 

In the course, of a debate in the U. S. House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, as recently as April last, the Hon. James 
Brooks asserted that the Chinese labor in California 
was the cheapest in the world. That any gentleman 


25 


t 


holding a seat in the National Councils could make such 
a statement, is a strong proof of this ignorance. 

Chinese labor is relatively cheaper in this State than 
white labor; but it is much dearer than white or ne¬ 
gro labor in the South, or than any kind of labor in 
Europe. 

The average wages of common Chinese laborers in 
this State, is thirty dollars per month in gold. From a 
carefully prepared report on the subject of wages in the 
United States, issued by. the National Agricultural De¬ 
partment, we learn that the same class of white laborers 
are paid twenty-nine dollars per month in Pennsylvania, 
twenty-eight dollars in Ohio, twenty-seven dollars in 
Indiana, and twentv-eight dollars in Illinois and Iowa. 
The average for the whole nation being twenty-eight 
dollars for white, and sixteen dollars for colored labor¬ 
ers, and these rates in currency. 

Professor Leone Levi, one of the greatest authorities in 
the world on the subject of labor and wages, gives the aver- 
ageprice of common labor at twenty-two dollars and ahalf 
per month in England, twenty dollars in Scotland and four¬ 
teen dollars in Ireland. In France, Belgium and Germany 
the average does not exceed ten dollars per month. In 
Russia, only about six dollars^ yet here are we striving 
to use force to drive out laborers who are paid thirty 
dollars per month, because, forsooth, their labor is 
cheap according to our standard ! 

The very class of laborers, whom we despise for 
worldt g cheaper than white men, are being sought by 
the employers of other States, who pay them fifty per 
cent, more than they pay other laborers, for the very 
qualities of docility, industry and intelligence, for 
which they are denounced by senators, congressmen, 
editors, lawyers and demagogues in this State. 

The Chinese taken from this State to Texas,''are paid 
thirty dollars per month, in gold, and their traveling 


4 


26 


f 


expenses, when white laborers * in that State are con¬ 
sidered dear at twenty-five dollars per month, in cur¬ 
rency. 

There are several parties now in this city nej^otiating 
for a large number of Chinese to be employed in 
factories, farms and railroads in the Southern and 
Western States. 

A convention of citizens of South Carolina, held, 
during the present month, to consider this very ques¬ 
tion, thus reports : 

“ Chinese labor is not an experiment, because in Louis¬ 
iana it has been tried with o’reat success, and very 
much to the satisfaction of those who have procured it. 
The Chinese laborer has shown himself industrious, 
frimal, obedient and attentive to tlie interests of his em- 
ployers. We think the Chinaman cannot be surpassed 
either as servants or laborers by any others, whetlier 
3’ou place him in the house, the garden, the field, or the 
workshop, or on the railroad.” 

If we refuse to employ them because their labor is 
cheap, we cannot prevent manufacturers in other States 
hiring them, and how shall we stand as competitors in 
this market, when those who employ Chinese can un¬ 
dersell us twentj-five per cent, b}’ the difference in the 
cost between Chinese and white labor. 

The British ship Niagara, just arrived in our harbor, 
brings five hundred and thirty-five Chinese laborers m 
route to New Orleans. Sensible men would profit by 
such an example. The citizens of Louisiana send to 
China, and, at heavy expense, import the very class of 
laborers who come to us at their own expense. 

It is a serious misfortune for individuals or commun¬ 
ities to over-estimate their own importance, because it 
necessitates tlie disagreeable operation'of coming down. 
It is estimated that there are forty-two millions of peopjle 
in the United States at this time. Of this immense 
number, less than one million reside in the States and 


27 


Territories west of the Rocky mountains, including Col¬ 
orado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, iSTew Mexico, 
Alaska and Washington Territories, California, Oregon 
and Nevada. Now supposing all the people on the pa¬ 
cific slope were a unit in hating the Chinese, and in the 
wish to prevent their coming here, what would their 
wishes amount to when compared to the voice of the 
forty-one millions in the north, west and south, whose 
representatives in Congress have voted a liberal subsidy 
to support a line of steamers, and given a hundred mil¬ 
lion of dollars towards the construction of the grandest 
work of the age—the American transcontinental rail¬ 
road—for the purpose of increasing the closeness of our 
CDiinection with the nations of Asia ? Can we reason¬ 
ably expect that the majority of the people of the United 
States will be influenced by the unreasonable demands 
of a few deluded men in this State, and sever tlie pre¬ 
sent friendly relations with China ? 

It cannot be denied that Chinese labor competes with 
white women in the department of domestic servants. 
But it would be very diflicult to demonstrate to a man 
having a wife and family to support on a salary of say one 
hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per month, that 
it is not more to his interest to’ employ a clean, obedient 
and competent Chinaman, at eight to ten dollars per 
month, than it is to have a white lady at twenty-five to 
thirty dollars ? 

There are hundreds of families in this city, in which 
the mistress is physically unable to attend to her chil¬ 
dren and do the housework, in which thei'e would be 
absolute suffering and misery, 'were it not for the cheap 
services of the Chinese. A family consisting of a man, his 
wife,^ and half a dozen children cannot obtain a -goed 
white female servant at any price. Familes residing in 
the country would be even worse ofl' than those in the 
city, were it not for the Chinamen, because very few of 


28 


the white female servants will go into the country on 
any consideration. 

A good mechanic, clerk, or storeman is considered 
fairly paid at the rate of one hundred dollars per month; 
out of which, if he has a family, he has to pay house 
rent, taxes, and to support and clothe his family. If one 
of this class of citizens he compeled to hire a servant, 
if she he a white woman, she will demand twenty-five 
dollars per month, with hoard and lodging. Now I 
hold that such a woman is far better off than her master, 
and gets more than a fair share of the profits of his 
labor; and such a man has a perfect right to curtail his 
expenses, and to increase the comforts of his family by 
hiring a Chinaman for half the money demanded by 
the white woman. Were I published on every street 
corner in the city, by a secret or^public society, for so 
doing, I should ask the members of such a society what 
they were going to do about it ? 

Mr. Pixley, last Saturday evening, made a moving ap¬ 
peal in behalf of the washerwoman, whose occupation he 
insisted had been ruined by the Chinese, and there are 
possibly some people who believed him. 

Let us look into this washtub question, its bearings 
on the question of Chinese labor, because it aflords a fa¬ 
miliar illustration of that question. The people of San 
Francisco annually spend a million of dollars for washing 
and ironing; that is, estimating that one hundred thou¬ 
sand of the one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants 
in this city give their washing out; it is not an over esti¬ 
mate to reckon that each pays eighty cents per month. 

A few years ago, a washerwoman having a good run 
of custom,, could earn more than a first-class mechanic. 
The price of washing was so high, that as every old 
resident of the city will remember, it was considered 
cheaper buying new socks, handkerchiefs and under¬ 
clothes, than it was to have the old ones washed. The 


29 


fortunes of many a rich man in this city, sprang from 
the suds in his wife’s washtub. 

The high price of washing invited competition. The 
Chinese entered the field and reduced the price one- 
half. But within the past few years, white men, gen¬ 
tlemen of capital and business ability, have entered the 
field, and by tbe use of machinery and organization, do 
the washing cheaper than the Chinese. 

The San Francisco Laundry Company is a .orp'ora- 
tion having a capital of fifty thousand dollars; and 
there are other washing companies in this city having 
an aggregate capital of upwards of half a million of 
dollars, which are rapidly monopolizing this business, 
because they do it cheaper than anybody else. The 
working classes are the greatest gainers by this compe¬ 
tition, and I will explain how. The rich people do not 
send their washing out it is always done at home by 
their servants; consequently, it is only the working 
classes that sustain the laundries, the Chinamen, and 
white washerwomen. If, therefore, as I have stated^ 
the annual expenses of washing exceed a million of 
dollars, when the price is reduced so much that Mr. 
Pixley is moved almost to tears by the losses of his 
friends—the white washerwomen—all the other classes 
of working people have benefittedby the wholesome re¬ 
duction. 

And so it is in every department of business. The 
cheaper anything can be done, made or produced, the 
better it is for employers and consumers. 

The introduction of machinery has^done away with 
the old spinning wheel and hand-loom, and thrown hun¬ 
dreds of old women out of work. The construction of 
railroads did away with stage coaches and the heavy 
teams that used to crowd tbe roads in the New England 
States, and deprived thousands of teamsters of employ¬ 
ment. Every new invention, every improvement in 


30 


agricultural machinery, interferes with some branch of 
human labor. There were hundreds of occupations 
which gave employment to labor twenty or thirty years 
ago which no longer exist, |he work being better and 
more cheaply done by machinery—the cheapest kind of 
labor. But the world moves on, and each generation 
of its people enjoys more blessings, more comforts and 
conveniences than its predecessors^ through tliis cheap 
labor. 


When Mr. Pixley—copying frorn^Congressmari John¬ 
son—asserted that cheap labor is degrading, he grossly 
insulted the laboring men of the east, w^est, and of Eu¬ 
rope, and the intelligent among his audience. 

Why do ive annually import millions of dollars worth 
of manufactured goods from Europe, and pay for them 
in raw materials ? Because the difference in the price of 
labor in that country and this State gives the European 
manufacturers the control of this market, notwithstand¬ 
ing we have a tariff that protects home manufactures by 
levying a duty of fifty per cent, on the value of foreign 
goods. 

If free trade were the rule, we should not be able to 
manufacture a single article in the United States, be¬ 
cause the cheap labor of Europe would enable the 
foreign manufacturers to undersell us in everything. 

We have the highest priced labor in Caliiornia that 
there is in the world ; are its people prosperous in conse¬ 
quence ? Let the unsightly processions which paraded 
through the streets of the city a few weeks since—when 
thousands of men tumultously demanded bread or work, 
whom the demagogues who controled them, declared 
were starving—be the answer to this question. 

Mr. Pixley, last Saturday evening, made the extra¬ 
ordinary statement, that if he had the power, he Avould 
make the rich divide their property with the poor, and 


31 


declared that the federal government should do this 
thing. 

There could not have been a sensible person in that 
audience hut must have smiled at the idea of a lawyer, 
a gentleman aspiring to a seat in Congress, making such 
a sill}^, stupid statement. 

The outcry raised against the experiment to carry 
out some such idea on a small scale, when six thousand 
dollars of the taxpayers’ money was thrown away by 
hiring high priced labor to do nothing in the city park, 
showed that the people who have acquired property by 
their heads or hands,* do not approve of the idea of 
giving it away for nothing. 

The Chinese are accused of bringing their clothing 
with them, or importing them from China, and thus 
sending their money out of the State. 

Without enlarging on the fact that it conies with an 
ill grace from a civilized community that annually im¬ 
ports nearly forty million dollars of materials for its own 
clothing, to charge such a practice as an offense against 
foreign barbarians, I will tell you something about this 
Chinese clothes bussiness: 

We annually export millions of bales of cotton from 
the southern States to Europe, where it’is converted 
into cloth by the cheap labor of that country ; and with 
its value increased fifty per cent, by this labor, it is ex¬ 
ported—to where do you think ? Why to Asia and 
China. Five-eights of all the cotton manufactured in 
England is sent to India and China ; so that it is safe to 
say that fully three-fourths of the clothing worn by the 
Chinese in this State, made from cloth manufactured 
in England, from raw material grown in the United 
States. 

.Uow we can Taise cotton in the valleys, and on the 
foot Hlls of this State, but it is unprofitable to do so at 
present, because there is no home market for it, and 


32 


we cannot grow it cheap enough to compete with coun¬ 
tries where labor is cheaper than it is here. 

Suppose we had thousands of Chinamen cultivating 
cotton, and thousands more of them weaving it into 
cloth, and by their cheap labor we could sell it at as low 
price as England or Massachusetts, which we could do? 
we might build up an industry that would afford em¬ 
ployment for millions of white people, though not one 
of them worked within a mile of a cotton field or mill. 

ITow let us look at the charge made against the 
Chinese, that they do not spend their earnings in this 
countiy, but injure the State by sending their money 
out of it. 

The Chinese are human beings, though some people 
don’t appear to think so. They have parents, wives 
and children in their native land. Is it a crime for 
them to remember their “old folks at home ?” 

The most admirable trait in the character of the 
Irish and^ German immigrants, is their love of the 
“ ould countrv,” and “ Faderland.” 

I remember reading in the papers years ago, as a de¬ 
served compliment to the Irish men and women in 
America, that they annually sent ten millions of dollars 
to their poor relatives in Ireland, and few blame them 
for spending millions to aid the Fenians. 

It is the most enobling virtue in a white man to love 
his kindred, and the land of his birth ; does such a 
virtue become a vice when exhibited by a Chinaman ! 

If it be a crime to send our money out of the State, 
we must all plead guilty of such an offense, for we have 
taken upwards of a thousand millions of gold and sil¬ 
ver out of our mines in the past twenty years, and sent 
so much of it out of the State that there is not enousrh 

O 

remaining to conduct our business. 

“ Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” 
The language of the Savior towards his persecutors, 




33 


might well be applied to those that persecute the \ 
Chinese, because they are willing to work cheaper than I 
white men, and who proscribe those who employ them, j 

The woman, whose husband goes to his daily toil 
at the rising of the sun, and returns not to his home 
till its going down, whose younger children are too 
small to be left alone, and the elder one perhaps writh¬ 
ing on a bed of sickness, looks upon the Chinese vege¬ 
table or fish peddler who comes to her door to sell his 
fish or vegetables, as a benefactor, because he enables 
her to avoid going to the store several blocks off, and 
sells his stuff cheaper than white men. There are hun- ^ 
dreds of mothers in this city so circumstanced. 

It is the poor who most benefit by the cheap labor of 
the Chinese. Because it is they who are compelled to 
buy the cheapest articles they can find. 

The outcry raised against these people by demagogues 
and some members of the press, is not for the benefit 
of the poor working classes, but to enable such dis¬ 
turbers of the public welfare to gain office or profit. 
These people act on the principle that, in all fermenta¬ 
tions, the scum rises to the surface; and they expect to 
rise by creating a ferment on this Chinese question. 

This is well illustrated bv the conduct of the last 

« 

Legislature, which rode into power by appealing to the 
prejudices of the working classes on this Chinese labor 
question. The majority of its members stood pledged 
to do something severe against the Chinese. With an 
overwhelming majority in both houses, and a Governor 
who would not veto any reasonable bill on that subject. 

> What did they do?. Nothing, save making shameful 
speeches and mouthing buncombe.. They did not pass 
a single bill restricting the immigration or employment 
of the Chinese; for the very good reason that they knew 
that such laws would be ineffectual. But the tal/c on 


m € 


34 




the subject possibly satisfies most of those who are so 
unreasonable as to object to Chinese labor. 

I am pained at the course pursued by some of the 
papers published in this city on this great question, for 
I have a great respect, almost a veneration for the 
press. Because, when honorably conducted, it is the 
most potent shield the poor have against the oppression 
of the rich. But I despise and detest those vermin in 
the profession of journalism who prostitute their abili¬ 
ties to serve the single purpose of making money for 
the illiterate and illiberal owners of the types and office 
of a newspaper. 

The province of a newspaper in the body politic, is 
not unlike that of the detective officer. Its dutv is to 
■ watch over the public welfare, to see that citizens are 
not plundered and injured by combinations and rings, 
which menace the public rights; to submit the proofs 
of every charge to the public; to supply the people 
with the news from abroad and at home. When the 
press does this, it performs its duty well. But .when it 
assumes to make charges it cannot sustain by proofs, 
and performs the duties of judges and executioners of 
the reputation of individuals; or to serve its private 
purposes, betrays the public interests ; then the press 
becomes a pestilent, scourge and an abomination. 

The way we treat the Chinese is pretty generally 
known, and I shall not enlarge on that matter. But let 
me tell you how the Chinese treat citizens of the Uni¬ 
ted States in that country. 

The Hon. James L. Kiernan, an Irish adopted citi¬ 
zen, who resided many years in China, as a U. S. 
Consul, in a letter published in. this city, says: That 
during my residence in China, I have had much ex¬ 
perience among these people; traveled through their 
Empire extensively: and can state without fear of re¬ 
futation from any fair and descerning party, that the 




Chinese prefer th# Americans to all other foreigners 
residing in their country. 

The fact that the Imperial court in China refused to 
receive an English prince, while it honored an Ameri¬ 
can citizen with an office the noblest statesman in the 
world might be proud to fill, is a proof of this prefer¬ 
ence for Americans. ]3r. Thein, an English surgeon, 
long a resident of China, and vice president of the 
Royal Asiatic Society of Europe, who came to this city 
by the last steamer from China, en route to England, 
overland, sat with me last Saturday, and heard Mr. Pix- 
^ey’s abuse of the Chinese, which he characterized as a 
scandalous libel on a j>eople who heap favors on the 
Americans. The worthy Doctor assured me that mer-i 
chants from all other countries envied the Americand 
the privileges they enjoyed in China. ^ I 

The citizens of this republic enjoy the almost exclu-’ 
si ve steam navigation of the inland waters of that great 
empire. Hundreds of steamers, built by American me¬ 
chanics, and millions of dollars worth of machinery, 
macje by American artisans, are to be found in China. 
American engineers and men of enterprise are even now- 
negotiating for contracts to construct railroads, tele¬ 
graphs,- machinery for factories, for. opening mines, and 
other great works, which will give employment to thou¬ 
sands of Americans to supervise. How will such men 
be able to explain the conduct of their fellow citizens in 
this State towards the Chinese here ? 

The most influential man in China to-day is a natur¬ 
alized citizen of the United States, an Irishman by 
birth, named Hart, who holds the position of Inspector 
General of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and exer¬ 
cises more influence over the immense commerce of 
that mighty empire, than the emperor himself. 

But the greatest honor ever conferred upon an Amer¬ 
ican citizen by a foreign power, was when China, the 


36 


oldest nation in existence, selected Mr. Burlingame, a 
citizen of the youngest nation, to represent its interests 
before the courts of every kingdom and republic in the 
world; and thus gave a citizen of this republic the 
power to shape the foreign policy of a nation, whose 
trade sustains the factories and commerce of one half of 
Europe. A position so loyal a citizen as that lamented 
gentleman has turned to the advantage of his native 
land. 

Shall we turn aside all these advantages by encour¬ 
aging the prejudices of a little faction of men in this 
State ? 

I have not time to give details relating to the com¬ 
merce between the United States and China. Its im¬ 
portance may be inferred from the fact, that the Ithmus 
of Suez has been intersected by a canal costing millions 
of clollars, by France, to compete in this commerce. 

England is building a railroad across Honduras, and 
all nations are united in their desire for the speedy com¬ 
pletion of the Darien Canal; and every maritime nation 

subsidizes a line of steamers to win this trade from 

« 

San Francisco, which, by nature and art, is placed 
nearer to China than any port in Europe. With the 
great Transcontinental Railroad and the Pacific Mail 
Steamers, the teas, silks and spices of China can be 
landed in London in but little more than half the time 
required by any other route. 

This mighty trade which gives the nation controling • 
it, the command of the commerce of the world, is ours, 
if we do not drive it from our doors, by unfairly treat¬ 
ing the Asiatics residing among us. 

The United States annually import upwards of one 
hundred million dollars’ worth of tea, silk and rice. All 
these articles may be produced in this State to any ex¬ 
tent. The germ of all these great sources of wealth has 
taken root among^ us already, and if cultivated by the 




37 


/ 


experienced and cheap labor of the people born in the 
country where these products are indigenous, may 
make California one of the wealthiest States in the 
Union. 

Those who believe in “ manifest destiny ” and the 
‘‘Monroe doctrine,” by glancing to the south, may see 
a magnificent, broad domain, gorgeous in its tropical 
vendure, and teeming with metallic riches, which is 
destined in the fullness of time to become part of our 
country. In the enervating clime of that great domain, 
the labor of the Chinese will be more valuable than 
that of the white man, because of its better adaptation. 
We do not wish to make Mexico a Chinese colony. It 
is better tor us to Americanize a generation of China¬ 
men, teach them to love and honor our free institutions, 
and then draft them, when disciplined in the principles 
of liberty, into our new possessions, when they fall into 
our hands. ^ 

f In reply to the charge that the Chinese are coolies, I 
have to say that it is very easy to convert a very simple 
) word into a very complex one. ' ^e word coolie^ in 
I ndia and China, means the lower class of laborers, and 
ap plies to their vocation, not to their condition; just as 
we call men who work in the mines, miners. But in 
th is State the word coolie has been made to imply a 
^ave or bond servant.^ 

'There IS no possibility of the Chinese coming here 
in any other condition than that of absolute freedom, 
unless all the United States officers, here.and in China, 
neglect their duties. 

Every minister and consul from the United States in 
China, is held personally responsible that no Chinaman 
leaves any port in that empire for this country, except as a 
freeman. Severe penalties are inflicted upon any person, 
who shall bring any Chinaman here in bonds. The 
vessel bringing such a passenger is liable to confisca- 















38 


tiou, and a large moiety of its value would be given to 
the informer, upon conviction. 

The 5th article of the last treaty between the United 
States and China makes it a penal offense, to take a 
Chinese subject out of that country against his will. 

It is the duty of those, who assert that the Chinese 
are held in bondage, to report every such case to the 
municipal or federal authorites. 

In September, 1867, the collector of the customs at 
this port, acting under instructions from the Federal 
Government, advertized in all the city papers for several 
weeks, for any person who could prove that any China¬ 
man was held in bondage in this city. As no personl 
offered to furnish such proof, it is certain that no suchl 
thing existed, or that those who insist that the- Chinese 
are coolies, or slaves, failed to do their duty as good 
citizens, by not proving the existence of an evil they s4 
loudly denounce. 

f It may be true that some of them come here under 
! engagements, such as the California Immigrant Union 
advertise. This society offers to bring white wometi 
from Europe as domestic servants, for whoever will ad¬ 
vance one hundred and twenty dollars to pay their ex¬ 
penses. Such women when they come here will not be 
daves, nor are the Chinese, who come under similar 
conditions. 

The number of Chinese in this State, as stated by the 
other side, is greatly exaggerated. There are not over 
thirty-eight thousand of them in the State, including 
all ages and both sexes. Langley’s directory gives 
eight thousand as the number in this city. The anti- 
coolieites say there are twenty-five thousand in this 
city, and one hundred thousand in this State. Thousands 
of them are finding their way into Idaho, Colorado, 
Utah, and to the States further east and south ; and 


* 





39 


wherever employed—to use the words of Mr. George— 
they give great satisfaction to their employers. 

That we can ever drive them out of this State is. an 
impossibility. That matter is not left in our hands, for 
as the bible tells us, in 26 verse of 17 chapter of Acts: 

“God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for 
to^ dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath deter¬ 
mined the times, before appointed, and the bounds of 
their habitation.” 



In cpnc.lnsioip I will endeavor to prove that it is not 


the Chinese who have caused the lessened demand for 


white labor, about which are so many complaints, but the 
white laborers have brought this upon themselves. I have 
already demonstrated that the Chinese do not enter into 
competition with white mechanics. How I will show 
you the policy of the white man: 

According to the last published statement of the sav¬ 
ing banks in this city, they held twenty-eight millions 
eight hundred ninety-seven thousand six hundred and 
forty-five dollars on deposit, chiefly the savings of the 
working classes. It is this immense amount of money 
drawn out of the channels of trade and productive in¬ 
dustry that has become a drag chain on the wheels 
of progress. This money beinjj used exclusively for * 
the purposes of speculation, the working men have 
thus been furnishing the money lenders the means 
to stop production. So long as money earns more 
for speculative purposes than it does in manufactur¬ 
ing or for developing the resources of the State, so 
long may we expect to see every department of busi¬ 
ness stagnant, except that of usury. Speculators who 
make their hundreds of thousands of dollars an¬ 
nually, employ but little labor. It is upon manufac¬ 
tures and production that labor must depend for 
employment. The money locked up in the savings 
banks is sufficient to set every department of business 





40 


in active motion. But so long as it returns twelve 
per cent, to depositors, it ,is not likely to be employed 
in manufactures. We cannot have the money and the 
marbles too. The depositors in the savings banks can¬ 
not expect to keep up interest to four times the rate in 
England, and three times the rate in i^ew York, and 
expect labor to be in demand at high rates of wages. 

Money may be borrowed to any extent in London 
for manufacting purposes, at two and a half to three 
per cent, per annum. The banks of Yew York are 
overflowing with money which cannot be loaned at four 
to six per cent, per annum, because it is too dear. 
While here in San Francisco, no manufacturer, farmer, 
or other person engaged in productive industry, can ob¬ 
tain a dollar at less rental than twelve, from that to 
twenty-four per cent. 

, We are all insane if we think we can successfully 
compete with Eastern or European manufacturers, while 
our labor and capital are from fifty to one hundred per 
cent, dearer than theirs. 

This, the real cause of the stagnation in the de¬ 
mand for labor, is never fairly explained to the working 
men. The poor Chinese are set up as a decoy, to draw 
‘‘attention from the real evil. It is the cheap, labor of 
the Chinese that keeps the few factories we have in op¬ 
eration. Even the co-operative mills and factories 
owned by whit6 working men, have to employ Chinese 
labor to cheapen the costs of their products. 

In discussing the question of Chinese labor, I have 
purposely avoided any reference to the Japanese, be¬ 
cause they are not included in the charges made against 
the Chinese. But if heathenism, color, the place of 
nativity, race, language, industry and ingenuity, and 
cheapness of labor, are objections, they will apply with 
additional force against the Japanese. 

At some future time I may address you on the sub- 



41 


# 


ject ofJiipaii labor. I will only now state that we have 
a colony of these people in this State, which gives 
promise of most important results in the immediate 
future. This interesting colony is acclimatizing the 
tea, bamboo, mulberry, varnish, cinnamon, and other 
valuable Japanese plants; and from the nurseries 
tended by them, in a few years the white people of the 
south and west will be supplied with seed and cuttings, 
to be planted, when industry may spring up, equal in 
importance to cotton or sugar cultivation ; for both 
these great industries originated from just such a be- 
o^inniim. 

o o 

Having answered the various, charges preferred 
against the Chinese to the very best of my humble abil¬ 
ity, I shall not call upon you, ladies and gentlemen of the 
jury, for your verdict at this time, but appeal to you to 
give the testimony for the prosecution and defense your 
most serious consideration. Let the subject be in your 
memories after you leave this ball. Ponder over it, 
and, at some future time, I hope to have the pleasure ot 
calling upon you for your verdict. 


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library of congress 











































